Does anyone here use Tamco transmitters/receivers at all please? I was advised they are a 'good little unit' by someone in the club I belong to.....to be honest they're a bit rubbish so will buy Futaba or Spektrum I think. Went to change the Tx/Rx on oe of my boats, for some reason, after following the wiring diagram they supplied, my screws were revving themselves stupid and smoke appeared from somewhere, so closed everything down, sat and wondered where i'd gone wrong....think i bought cheap tat with Tamco...any other views?

Hi Nick, the smoke you mention, cant be coming from the receiver, it can only come from 1, the wiring, (not thick enough, bad connections) 2, the motor, 3, the speed controler, check all these, try sniffing them, burnt smell.As for the radio gear, some of my club use Tamco, but i prefer Futaba, FHSS T6, going for about £60 on ebay receivers are about £30 so not cheep but very reliable.

Hi NickWMy guess would be you reversed wired the battery to the ESC. The internal MOSFETs will have cooked and gone short circuit. As you are in a club can a fellow more knowledgeable member have a look and see what's happened?Dave

Dave I didn't wire anything....I only replaced the Rx and placed the connectors as per the instruction booklet, it was running on 40Mhz and I wanted to run it on 2.4Ghz....I assumed it would be a case of swapping the Rx....unless i've made a newbie mistake, which wouldn't surprise me at all

Hi Nick, if you only replaced the RX and put the connectors back as they were are you certain the pin layout, especially battery + & - pins, was exactly the same as the original?Different manufacturers use different layouts!What type was the original RX ??😎

"Retirement is when you stop living at work -and start working at living/boat modeling!" 舰队的海军上将 😉 Doug

Hi Nick, So which 2 pins did you use???As far as I can tell both Hitec and Tamco use the same convention with the battery + in the middle. ALMOST the standard these days! BUT, some receivers have the - pin towards the outside of the RX case, some towards the inside. Hitec I'm not sure, Tamco has the - pin towards the outside. See photo. So you need to put the 2 pin batt plug in the outer 2 pins, with RED in the middle.If you accidentally put the batt on the inner 2 pins and back to front(i.e. black in the middle) you may have blown the receiver!Can you identify which component (RX, servo, ESC) smoked? And how much smoke was there, a quick puff or lots? From the symptom, screws revving like mad, sounds like you may have had + volts on the signal line and blown the ESC! And probably any other servo connected 🤔A simple servo tester will tell you if the servos are dead. You can also check the ESC with the tester if you put a little motor on it or a voltmeter.Good luck 😎PS I now use Spektrum (DX6) and my older sets were Graupner, Futaba. All still going strong after years of service 😉 Attached are common pin outs for the popular brands.

Attached Files - Click To View Large

"Retirement is when you stop living at work -and start working at living/boat modeling!" 舰队的海军上将 😉 Doug

Hi NickWSorry I should have explained better. I suspect you may have accidentally reversed the battery plus and minus connections.Doug has already suggested this and if you did this to the rx the internal BEC would have been destroyed which may account for the smoke. It may also have damaged (melted) the battery lead so check this also. You can buy leads to convert the two pin battery connectors to three pins which will not allow wrong connection. Even if you plug in the wrong way round with 3 pins no damage will be done, just the rx won't have power until you fit the plug the correct way. If your boat works ok with the original rx then the ESC should be ok and it is just the rx that is broken.You may be a newbie but believe me I and many others have all made the same mistake, sometimes more than once, so you are certainly not alone in that respect.Dave

I agree! In this case the ESC would be in a 'no signal' state, like switching on the RX without first switching on the TX🤔 If the ESC has no Fail Safe to shut down the motor it may go 'hard on' which would account for the 'revving themselves stupid'. With luck 'only' the RX is U/S. 😡

"Retirement is when you stop living at work -and start working at living/boat modeling!" 舰队的海军上将 😉 Doug

Well i've put the old Rx back on, re-connected the leads and nothing, so something probably has blown.....ok so i'll have to buy a new ESC, i'm waiting for a new handset to arrive. The pics below show the Hitec original Rx and the one that comes with the Tamco....also shown the ESC.....all the AA batteries have been replaced and the battery pack in the boat recharged....lets hope replacing all new items might just get it working.

Every picture tells a story! What looks like a hole (or two!) in the ESC is most likely where the smoke came from. 😡So it's gone to the great scrapyard in the sky 😭 When you wired up for your test with the old Hitec did at least the rudder servo work?I note that the Hitec has a BEC, Tamco maybe not! Are you using a separate RX battery? Can you sketch or photograph the boats internal wiring?Strongly suggest that before you install all the new gear that you do some simple bench tests, without the drive battery!, to check the binding of RX to TX and for example correct servo operation on all the RX outputs.If you have a spare motor kicking about you could also then test the ESC.Good luck, let us know how you go on 😎

"Retirement is when you stop living at work -and start working at living/boat modeling!" 舰队的海军上将 😉 Doug

Hi NickWI agree the ESC is toast. Don't plug it into anything.You should be able to test the Tamco using the RX battery plugged in the correct way. If it is correctly bound the the rudder servo should work in either rx channel. If it does then a new ESC will get you back to working condition.If you did accidentally reverse the rx battery connection this may have blown both the rx and the ESC. Lets hope it was just the ESC!!Dave

Ok I hope with the pics and my attempt at at being LS Lowry it will show the exact wiring of my ill fated gun ship.....(the ECO27 is the same on mine as in the photo)...there is one more wire not shown, going from the Rx through to an external aerial on deck...

Pics are a bit fuzzy (if using a smartphone don't get so close!) but seems to me the batt lead to the RX is back to front! RED should be in the middle. 🤔Oops 😲 and both motors on one ESC = double current for the ESC. Doesn't look good I'm afraid.😡 Back to the drawing board - and the bank manager!

"Retirement is when you stop living at work -and start working at living/boat modeling!" 舰队的海军上将 😉 Doug

Yes that's how I bought it.....so two motors = two ESC's....that's good to know....so the Rx will need to be able to take an extra ESC....would I need a second nicad batt pack for the additional motor or will the one power both? If i'm to have two ESC's that is..

You can either use one drive accu for both motors, or one each. But then they need to be well matched and identically charged.Some clever bods with 3 hands use separate RX ports and sticks for two motors. I prefer one stick for throttle and rudder.Each to his own 😎

"Retirement is when you stop living at work -and start working at living/boat modeling!" 舰队的海军上将 😉 Doug

Going back to your original question! I don't think that there is anything fundamentally bad about Tamco stuff, just bad luck with the wiring mistake. Moral: check twice, pay once. We've all done it. I blew up my first Graupner MC-10 TX board cos the battery connector was half hidden and not keyed, and there was no protection diode. There is now! 😎

"Retirement is when you stop living at work -and start working at living/boat modeling!" 舰队的海军上将 😉 Doug

Aha! 3pole 380s. 6A at Max efficiency, no figure for max drain at 7.2V I'm afraid. So at least 12A when both running flat out. ESC (20A) should cope with that, but now it's damaged 😭

By the way; if you do use an ESC with a BEC and you still want to use a sep. RX battery, to conserve the drive batteries, then you need to remove the RED lead from the ESC plug at the RX. Lift the little plastic tab over the connector and you can pull it out. Fold it back along the cable and insulate it. 😎

"Retirement is when you stop living at work -and start working at living/boat modeling!" 舰队的海军上将 😉 Doug

Hi NickHave you managed to test the original Hitek with your rx battery and rudder servo? Does it still work.If so the ESC is the problemYou can also do the same check on the Tamco TX/RX set.If neither Rx work then you have probably damaged both.There are two different motors in your pic with different part nos, please will you confirm what is written on your motors.Dave

Hi Doug....yes it was all switched on and working when I picked it up, no issues....but it was on 27Hz and I wanted to use a 2.4Ghz system so assumed it was just a case of putting in a new Rx and binding it to the Tx.....I got it wrong :-) but it's a learning curve...crashed & burned on my first attempt but being a Dingle I wont give up...i'll replace the Rx and ESC in the next week or so and see how I get on

Dave/Doug.....the motors in the photo are the same, it's just that the one on the left is supplied mounted hence the diff part no....my problem is which connector goes where, I followed the Tamco instructions and blew a couple of things.....

I think the point I was trying to make was Tamco as a brand are not all bad! I bought a second hand 6 channel tx and rx for £20 (with no servos). We all have good and bad luck and we learn with experience. Sadly experience can be costly.

Hi NickThe MFA/Como drills site lists the motor plus a stall current of 11.2amps at 7.2volts max.I guess you are confirming neither Tx/Rx combination is working. You have mentioned a new handset, is that a new Tx/Rx?Hopefully when it arrives you will have a working radio link.

I have used single ESC's with two motors wired in parallel and it will work. Problem is one motor can run faster than the other due to variations within the manufacturing specs.If you can afford two ESC's you will avoid this. You can run from one channel using a Y connector lead as Doug has said.With two ESCs you can run each from a separate battery. If both have BEC outputs you need to disconnect the red lead on at least one ESC and both if you are using a separate Rx battery as Doug has already explained.There are mixer units available which link the motors to the rudder setting to help with steering but you do need two ESC's.If you are an ex flier like myself you can also use two sticks on the TX and control each motor independently.I do hope you manage to get your model working and on the water soonDave